Mon Valley teen jailed on pipe bomb charges

CHARLEROI – A Charleroi Area High School senior was remanded to Washington County Jail this morning after being arraigned on accusations he risked a catastrophe by making pipe bombs in his home.

District Judge Larry Hopkins set bail at $50,000 for Ryan Pfrogner, 18, of Lower Speers, who also faces charges of making offensive weapons and reckless endangerment.

“These are serious charges,” Hopkins said when the teenager appeared before him in court.

Charleroi Regional police filed the charges after school officials alerted them about Pfrogner allegedly confessing to bringing a pipe bomb to the campus in November and leaving it in his car in the school parking lot.

Police then searched his residence at 136 River St. and said they seized two small, live PVC pipe bombs in his bedroom and bomb-making supplies in a workshop in the residence, court records show.